Question: Why is lb the symbol for pounds?
Answer: Have you ever wondered why we use the symbol 'lb' for the 'pounds' unit? 'pound' is short for 'pound weight' which was libra pondo in Latin. The libra part meant both weight or balance scales. The Latin usage was shortened to libra, which naturally was abbreviated 'lb'. We adopted the pound part from pondo, yet kept the abbreviation for libra.
